The invention will be described as it would be utilized in the grocery business but it is equally applicable to other similar business operations in which a wholesaler or supplier provides products which are eventually placed on shelves for display to and purchased by consumers.
In the grocery business a wholesaler or supplier (hereinafter supplier) usually has stored in its warehouse facilities cases of various products. These products are located and arranged in a fashion such that they can be readily located and removed in response to orders received from a retailer. Upon receipt of an order a case or carton of the product (or some suitable type of shipping container with enclosed product) is removed from its location in the warehouse and prior to shipment to the retailer a label or tag called a "picking sticker" is attached to the shipping case. Before attaching the "picking sticker" the supplier inserts various indicia on the label which, among other things, identifies the product contained in the shipping case and pricing information. Typically included in this indicia is a description of the product, the number of units, the size of each unit, unit price, customer's name and address, the corresponding invoice number, etc. Further, as a result of recent mechanization and automation of the processing of grocery supplies and the utilization of computers, code pricing information in bar code fashion which can be recognized by a suitable code reader is placed on the label. It is important that this label be attached to the shipping case so that it does not easily peel or fall off. Not only does the label conveniently continue to identify the product when the retailer received it, but also when the retailer wants to put the product on the store shelf he will then read off the unit price code from the label into his computer so that it becomes available at the checkout counters when the product is purchased. From the supplier's viewpoint, it is important that the "picking sticker" remains permanently attached so that there can be no claim later that the wrong goods or wrong quantities were delivered.
When the shipping case of product is removed from the retailer's temporary storage area for placement on the shelf for display and for sale to the consumer, it is necessary to identify to the consumer the price of the product. In many instances the practice has been to place a small sticker with the price on each individual container as it is removed from the shipping case and placed on the shelf. Other times the price may be stamped on the product or on its container. A number of difficulties arise using these methods. For one, the prices usually change quite often so some of the older products on the store shelf are marked with one price and the newer products are marked with a different price. Also, the clerk or shelf filler often is in a hurry and so overlooks or forgets to mark the price of the product.
With the advent of automation, many products are received by the retailer individually marked with the price bar code so there is less need for the retailer to mark each individual article. But the retailer must still provide intelligible pricing information for the purchaser. This is usually done by placing a marker on the store shelf containing pricing information such as unit price and total price. In some areas local governments have passed ordinances making it mandatory that this, and sometimes additional, pricing information be accurately and clearly displayed on the store shelves for the benefit of the consumer. This means that each time the price, the product or the product size is changed, the shelf marker must also be changed. This usually happens each time the shelves are restocked by new or additional product being brought from storage and placed on the shelf. Oftentimes the shelf filler overlooks or forgets to make out a new shelf marker in his eagerness to get the shelf restocked with product.